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“Ah, there she is. Alive in there somewhere, are you,bláth?” He calls out, having heard my ladylike outburst.
Stepping out of the cubicle and around some boxes, my cheeks ache with how hard I’m smiling. Considering my dismal mindset only moments ago, the mood swing is making me dizzy.
“Cal, what are you doing here?”
He leans in close and kisses me gently. “Well, you had to cancel our date, but I figured you’d have to take a break to eat eventually, so I brought dinner to you,” he explains, holding up a bag.
I’m going to need him to do something really unattractive soon, otherwise I might start swooning.
“You didn’t have to do that! You’re so sweet, thank you,” I gush, pushing myself up to my tiptoes to kiss him.
Cherith makes a choking sound. We both look over at her, having forgotten that we had an audience. Her face is frozen in a surprisingly unalluring expression, and I realize that she’s completely stunned that Cal is here to see me, of all people, and to see us together.
Me too, Cherry. Me too.
“Um, Cherith, I’m taking a break for a while,” I say, pulling Cal towards the breakroom. I’d rather go back to my office, butthere are a ton of boxes blocking the door.
While Cal and I enjoy our meal of stuffed grape leaves, olives, hummus, and kebabs, Cherith finds every reason possible to either walk by, ask me questions, or give me tasks to add to my list. She even blatantly flaunts herself by coming into the break room and bending over to rummage in a cabinet that I can guarantee you she’s never been in before. Cal ignores her existence entirely the entire time, which makes me just that much more obsessed with him. When we finish dinner, he reaches into the bag for dessert. I assumed it would be baklava or something like that, but once again, he surprises me.
My face remains a dark shade of pink as Cal slowly feeds me from a pint of vanilla ice cream, the memory of his words from this morning turning my nipples so hard you’d think they were covered in the frozen dessert after all.
By the time he leaves, I’ve forgotten why exactly I was in such a bad mood earlier. Not even three dozen bolts of glitter shedding tulle can wipe the smile off my face. Finally, Cherith gets sick of me not taking her bait and I get to head home, exhausted and unsure about the future of my job, but somehow still so happy.
Ezra
“Wow, this is impressive.” Beth jumps a little as I remark on her painting from over her shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s okay! I don’t know where my mind went. It’s not like I’m not used to you checking our work.”
She certainly is, because I definitely find myself near her easel far more than any other student. Cal says she has no idea that I’ve been into her this whole time, but I find that hard to believe. Because now that I’m really thinking about it, I have always hovered around her, no matter how much I thought I was keeping a professional distance.
I don’t realize I’ve moved in so close until the warmth of her body and her sweet vanilla scent start wreaking havoc on my brain function. Trying to cover my proximity, I point at a particularly impressive part of her canvas, but end up leaning over her. My mouth is dangerously close to the curve of herneck, and it makes my voice come out hoarse. “I really like your color blending here. The texture and the way the brush strokes stand out against each other is really impressive, Beth. Your technique is impeccable.”
Gooseflesh erupts over her skin, and my lids grow heavy. Beth stutters, flustered, as she tries to respond. “I—Uh. Thank you.”
Loving her response to my praise, I find other things to compliment. It’s not a hardship. She’s truly the most talented artist I know. “The mix of greens in the meadow here is gorgeous. You have an eye for color.”
She doesn’t respond, her eyes tracing the swirls of deep green on the canvas in front of her. I can see the wheels turning, her lips pressing into a shy smile, and wish I knew what she was thinking about. I catch myself staring down at her, enraptured by the way she looks up at me expectantly.
“Got a lot on your mind?”
She blushes. My dick twitches.
“There’s been a lot happening,” she says.
“All good, I hope?” I pull back to put a reasonable amount of space between us. It’s probably awkward for me to talk about her dating my best friend. And getting in her personal space probably isn’t helping.
This is the first time I’ve let myself get close to her since Cal brought up sharing her. Every time I’ve seen her lately, I think about that conversation and imagine all manner of sordid scenarios, but then the moment I have a chance to so much as talk to her, I back away. I feel like anything I do or say has the potential to make her uncomfortable, and that’s the last thingI want.
To her credit, she never acts like I’m bothering her or making her uncomfortable, aside from the odd blush that I kind of love.
“Lots of changes, but mostly good.”
“Just mostly?” Aside from my attraction to her, I’m genuinely interested in her life, her job, everything.
She makes a pained expression. “Have you heard about the gallery?”
“Oh! Cal mentioned something about it. They’re doing some sort of social media backdrop exhibit?”
